Cold drawn pearlitic steel wires with ultra-high strength are widely applied in industrial fields such as bridge cables, automobile tire and springs rope. In recent years, the strengthening mechanism and microstructure evolution have been profoundly studied. In order to investigate the influence of microstructure evolution on mechanical properties, the anisotropic mechanical properties of cold drawn pearlitic steel wires were investigated by tensile test, SEM and TEM. Results indicated that the distinctions of tensile strength between three directions (parallel to the tensile axis, inclined to the tensile axis (45°), vertical to the tensile axis) were amplified with increasing strain. The effect of strain strengthening was observed in parallel and inclined directions while the vertical direction remained strength stability in 1320 MPa. The wire rod was isotropic and the fracture mode was transgranular fracture; After cold drawing, the tensile strength reached peaks in parallel direction and valleys in vertical direction. The fracture mechanism of inclined and vertical directions remained transgranular or intergranular fracture while the fracture mechanism of parallel direction was converted into microvoid accumulation fracture. In TEM, the phenomenon was discovered that due to non-homogeneous distribution in vertical direction, dislocations piled up at the boundaries resulting in stress concentration. On the contrary, the dislocations were uniformly distributed which led to homogeneous transformation in parallel direction.